German Navy corvette joins NATO’s SNMG1

German Navy’s K130 Braunschweig corvette FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein is set to leave the Warnemünde navy base on August 31 to join the NATO Standing Maritime Group 1.

The 63 sailors that form the ship’s complement will set sail under the command of corvette captain Marco Köster.

During their time with SNMG1, German sailors will be under the command of the Spanish Navy Admiral José E. Delgado who leads the NATO group from the Spanish Álvaro de Bazán frigate. The corvette will take part in different NATO exercises including “Northern Coast 2016” and “Joint Warrior”.

Ludwigshafen am Rhein will also conduct several port visits and, according to the German Navy, every port visit will include an ‘Open Ship’ day where public will be able to go onboard the frigate for a tour.

Visits to Gdynia, Karlskrona, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Belfast, Rotterdam and Hamburg are all on the schedule.

SNMG1 is one of four multinational, integrated maritime forces composed of vessels from various allied countries. These vessels are permanently available to NATO to perform different tasks ranging from participation in exercises to operational missions.

These groups provide NATO with a continuous maritime capability and help to establish Alliance presence, demonstrate solidarity, conduct routine diplomatic visits and enhance interoperability among Allied naval forces. They also serve as a consistently ready maritime force to support the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).